The most unlikely team to progress to the knock stages was Lyon, who needed Ajax to lose at home to Real Madrid while they beat Dinamo Zagreb and overturned a seven-goal deficit. When Dinamo went one-up it seemed that Lyon’s record of progressing from the group stage every year since 2002/03 was coming to an end. But after a goal right before half-time Lyon went all out in the second half, scoring six goals to win 7-1. With Real Madrid beating Ajax 3-0, Lyon somehow had qualified for the knockout stages.

The other big shock was in Switzerland where Basel beat Manchester United 2-1 with goals from Marco Streller and Alexander Frei to overtake the English champions in Group C. Benfica topped that section after a 1-0 home win against Otelul Galati put them on 12 points.

CSKA Moscow pulled off another unlikely result as they won 2-1 at Group B winners Inter, Vasili Berezutski’s 86th-minute decider lifting them from fourth to second as after Lille and Trabzonspor finished goalless.